Convicted Dartmouth child molester headed to trial on latest charges

A Dartmouth senior who is a convicted child molester has been committed to stand trial on his latest charges.

Edward Smith Murley, 67, is accused of sexually abusing a girl between 1978 and 1987.

Murley appeared in Dartmouth provincial court Tuesday for a preliminary inquiry.

Judge Patrick Curran presided over the hearing. The only person to testify was the complainant, who is now 44.

There are publication bans on the woman’s identity and the evidence she gave at the hearing.

The Crown alleges the abuse began when the complainant was five and continued until she was 14.

The abuse is alleged to have occurred in Windsor, Halifax and Dartmouth.

Murley was committed to stand trial on four charges – gross indecency, indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault.

He was ordered to appear in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax next week to begin the process of setting dates for a judge-alone trial.

Last spring, Murley pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault on a male and one of gross indecency. Those offences were committed between 1980 and 1985 in Dartmouth and involved a boy who was eight or nine years old and a girl who was between the ages of seven and nine.

Murley was sentenced to 90 days in jail, to be served on weekends, followed by two years’ probation.

He was also compelled to provide a DNA sample for a national databank and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

In addition, the judge granted a 10-year order prohibiting Murley from attending public facilities frequented by children, holding any job or volunteer position involving persons under the age of 16 and using computers for the purpose of communicating with kids.

Murley has one other conviction on his record, for sexual interference in 2007. At his sentencing in 2009, the court was told he had completed a forensic sexual behaviour program and was considered a low risk to reoffend.